Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Fisnics Hot Rose.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Fisnics Hot Rosexe2x80x99.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany and Galder, Gran Canaria, Spain. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new medium-sized Impatiens cultivars with an early to medium flowering response and large rounded flowers with attractive coloration.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor during the spring of 1999 of the Impatiens hawkeri cultivar Fisimp 171, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,703, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary seedling selection of Impatiens hawkeri identified as code number K98-4173-9, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Fisnics Hot Rose was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Galder, Gran Canaria, Spain in April, 2000.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in Galder, Gran Canaria, Spain, since July, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Fisnics Hot Rosexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Fisnics Hot Rosexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Outwardly spreading and uniformly mounded plant habit; medium growth habit.
2. Freely branching and freely flowering habit.
3. Dark green-colored foliage, occasionally variegated.
4. Large, slightly oblong, red purple-colored flowers that are positioned above and beyond the foliage.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the female parent, the cultivar Fisimp 171. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the Fisimp 171 in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens occasionally had variegated foliage whereas plants of the Fisimp 171 did not have variegated foliage.
2. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens were more blue and not as red in color than flowers of plants of the Fisimp 171.
Plants of the new Impatiens can be compared to plants of the male parent selection. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the male parent selection in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens and the male parent selection differed in leaf and leaf venation coloration.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens and the male parent selection differed in flower coloration.
Plants of the new Impatiens can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Balcebpurp, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,999. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Hillscheid, Germany, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Balcebpurp in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens were taller than plants of the cultivar Balcebpurp.
2. When variegation was present, leaves of plants of the new Impatiens were more distinctly variegated than leaves of plants of the cultivar Balcebpurp.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Balcebpurp.
4. Flowers of plants of the new Impatiens and the cultivar Balcebpurp differed slightly in flower coloration.